Nado Natterings
A weekly column by David Axelson Back to Index

17 November 2010 Issue #46

Three games into the 2010 Islander Football season, things looked pretty grim for Coronado as they had suffered one-sided losses to Grossmont and Santa Fe Christian, with a win over Ainlay High School from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada sandwiched in between. Coronado then had a bye week in their schedule, followed by a very weak Crawford High team and suddenly the Islanders were on a roll.
Friday afternoon at University City High School, the Islanders concluded their regular season and won their seventh game in a row, this one by by the score of 20-16. The victory allowed Coronado to finish their season with a record of 8-2. As importantly, they marched undefeated through their Central League schedule to win the league title and earned the right to host a home game in the CIF Division IV Playoffs Friday night against Escondido Charter at 7 pm.
Two of the keys to the Islanders success in 2010 have been taking care of the ball on offense and forcing the opposition into key turnovers on defense.  In this game, which Head Coach Bud Mayfield described as a “gritty victory,” the Islanders were tough on themselves, with three turnovers in the Centurion red zone and no takeaways of their own on defense to offset their largesse. But a gritty win is far superior to an artistic loss.
Coronado scored on their first two possessions of the game. The first coming at the 7:44 mark of the first quarter on a six-yard touchdown pass from Austin Denson to tailback Jeff Bona. The Islander defense held University City to six plays from scrimmage on their next possession. The Centurions fumbled on a punt attempt and the Islanders took over on the U.C. 30 yard line. Denson scored four plays later on a three-yard run and it looked like the Islanders would dominate the Centurions and beat the traffic with a quick trip home.
University City converted a 22-yard field goal attempt at the 9:40 mark of the second quarter to make the score 13-3 in favor of Coronado, which was the score at halftime.
Things got interesting in the third quarter when Coronado’s offense stalled after receiving the kickoff to open the half and the Centurions countered by putting together a 42-yard scoring drive to make the score 13-10. Coronado took the ensuing kickoff and rallied back. Bona ripped off a 36-yard run, Denson found Jordan Jacobs for a 21-yard pass play, and Bona finished off the drive with a one-yard plunge for a touchdown. The score was now 20-10 and the Islanders had again grabbed the momentum.
The teams traded a couple of unsuccessful drives before a Centurion pass interception with 6:04 remaining in the game, gave the home team the ball deep in Coronado territory. The Centurions scored on a 27-yard pass on the next play and the score was now 20-16. U.C. went for a two-point conversion and defensive back  Mike Byrne made a great solo tackle to keep the Centurion running back out of the end zone. The defensive stop allowed the Islanders to maintain their lead at four points, which meant University City would have to score a touchdown to win the game.
Coronado ran three minutes off the clock on a drive that ended at the U.C. 26. With 2:45 remaining in the game, the Islander defense stepped up. Austin Copp broke up a pass from his linebacker slot, Jose Sanchez tackled a Centurion runner for a short gain, Jacobs had a huge quarterback sack, Billy Ryan broke up a pass play and Bona sealed the game with a pass interception with 1:12 left in the game.
Despite the relatively low score, there were some fine offensive performances turned in by Coronado. Bona had 161 yards net rushing on 29 attempts; Toomey ran 12 times for 68 yards; and Denson threw for 73 yards on 6-12 passing, with both a running and a passing touchdown to his credit.
On the defensive side of the ball, Jacobs had four solo tackles, three assisted tackles, two quarterback sacks and two hurries; Copp had two solo tackles and six assisted tackles; while Toomey had two solo tackles and six assists.
Mayfield named four Black Shirt winners for the game, as Jack Mikesell, Sanchez, Bona and Jacobs were all honored. “The staff thought Mikesell has been an unsung hero this year,” Mayfield said of the senior center. “He’s the quarterback of the offensive line and has been steady all year. When we had injuries, he started playing defense as well and has continually improved.”
Several of the Islanders are banged up physically and Mayfield is changing up the practice routine for the week leading up to the First Round playoff game against Escondido Charter. “We’re going to take a different tack and look at film Monday,” Mayfield said. “It’s about conserving energy and healing. This is our last home game this season. I hope we continue to get the same great crowds.”
Despite the rough start and the two early losses, Mayfield thought throughout the season that the team had promise. “I never doubted the team. I thought we would be okay and I tried to convey that to them every week. Even when we lost to Santa Fe Christian, I wasn’t disconsolate. That we continued to improve is a credit to the team. They kept the faith and kept working. We’re down to 21 guys on the team and it’s difficult to practice. Every single kid on our scout team has contributed.”
Note that Friday night’s home playoff game against Escondido Charter (5-5) starts at 7 pm and is conducted under the auspices of the CIF. If the Islanders prevail, they will travel to play Santa Fe Christian Nov. 26th in a re-match of their third game of the season. Mayfield is ready for Round II with the Eagles.  “I told the kids throughout the season that if we play them again, we’ll beat them.”
North County Times Prep Football Poll
The final “North County Times” Prep Football Poll of the regular season is out and here are the results: No. 1 Eastlake; No. 2 Helix; No. 3 Valley Center; No. 4 Vista; No. 5 Torrey Pines; No. 6 Mission Hills; No. 7 Steele Canyon; No. 8 Oceanside; No. 9 Rancho Bernardo; and No. 10 Mount Miguel. Others receiving votes include (in descending order) La Costa Canyon, St. Augustine, Olympian, Madison and Bishop’s.
Islander Boys Water Polo Advances to CIF Semi-Finals
Ownership of the No. 3 seed in Division III allowed the Islander Boys Water Polo Team to pass ‘Go’ and head directly to the CIF quarter-finals Saturday morning. Coronado defeated Santa Fe Christian 12-7 in contest that was much more lop-sided than the score might indicate. The scoreboard read Coronado 10, Santa Fe Christian 2 at halftime, which more closely reflects the tenor and tone of the game.
Every Islander with the first name of ‘Garrett’ made their way into the scorebook, with Garrett Smerdon scoring a goal and dishing out two assists; Garrett Eyer having an assist and Garrett Sabesky being credited with four saves in his role as the team’s starting net minder.
Patrick Geer was the team’s leading scorer with four goals, while Eitan Peled and Nick Wiley scored twice each. Additional single goals were scored by Tommy Grall, Josh Williams, and Tyler Brownell. Other Islanders with assists included Van Burgess and Joe Kusters. Braydon Hummeldorf and Joe Rodgers shared time in goal in the second half.
Basically everyone who boarded the team bus splashed around in the pool, a notion that pleased CHS Head Coach Randy Burgess. “I was happy with the way the team played and part of the excitement was getting a lot of guys water time, who hadn’t had the opportunity to get in a lot this season. I thought the first group came out, played hard and stayed focused in the game.”
The Division III bracket reads the way everybody thought it would at this point, with No. 1 seed Bishop’s playing No. 4 seed La Jolla Wednesday night (Nov. 17th) at the La Jolla Coggan Family Pool at 5:45 pm. No. 3 Coronado will play No. 2 Cathedral Catholic at 7:30 pm. La Jolla and Bishop’s split their season series this year as did Coronado and Cathedral. You could rightfully say that it is anyone’s title to win.
Burgess, who tends to look at water polo from an educational perspective, likes his team’s chances. “This team has come a long way and I feel very good about what we have done this season. If we play as well as we are capable of playing, we can win the next two games. Our practices and attitudes have been great. I told the team they earned the opportunity. They have worked very hard and have just as good a shot as any of the other semi-final teams. I think our kids are capable of doing what it takes.”
Boys CHS Cross Country Squad Wins Central League Crown
CHS Head Cross Country Coach George Green expounds on his teams’ success last week in the Central League Finals event. “The Coronado High School Boys' Cross Country Team went into last Tuesday's league finals at Morley Field knowing that even though they'd beaten all the teams in the league in dual meets, they couldn't let up because their winning margins were not overwhelming. 
Earlier in the season we had what seemed like a convincing nine-point win over Christian. Later we beat Clairemont by only five points, but Christian came back against Clairemont to beat them by the same margin. Since the finals counted as half of the championships as well as the tie-breaker, Coronado, Christian, and Clairemont all had a shot at the title.
All three teams knew this and you could see it in their faces at the starting line. Also up for grabs was the individual league championship and the All-League honors that would be awarded to the Top 10 finishers.
As expected, Coronado’s Aryan Shay and Madison's Connor Torre went to the front followed closely by Clairemont's Matt Willette, Christian's Daniel Strauss, and the Islander's Ryan Keeney. They finished with Torre clocking a personal best time of 16:27 over the City Conference three-mile course. Shay lost some ground over the last mile because of a side stitch he couldn't shake, but was able to hang on to second place in 16:32. Keeney finished fourth in a near-tie with Strauss in 16:48, followed by Will Funk who was seventh in 17:02. 
Nate Wilson grabbed the last All-League slot by finishing tenth in 17:27, followed by Drew Findley who finished 12th in 17:36 to round out the scoring.  Team-wise Coronado finished first with 36 points, Clairemont second with 49 and Christian third with 59.  That's also the overall order of the league finish for the season.
Nicholas Beall and Jason Vance were the sixth and seventh finishers (called "pushers" in cross country) followed by Casey Engelman, Jack Gold, Paul Rodriguez, Carlos Montes, Ryan
Herrmann, Chris Leary, Michael Cerdinio, Weston Breay, Grainger Lanneau, Kingston De Laurentis, and Chad Faul.
Unfortunately the Islander Girls Team lost last year's league champ Annie Lovering, a few days earlier to a club soccer injury to her knee, an incident I've seen far too often by the way. Her absence in the lineup and several other nagging injuries and health issues were too much for the Coronado girls to overcome. Clairemont is a very strong team that's ranked among the top three teams in Division III. 
The first five runners from each team score in cross country by adding-up the finish order for each team with the lowest total winning. After the 10th finisher, five runners each from Clairemont and Coronado had crossed the line with the Chieftains taking the title by the score of 19 points to the Islander's 36.
The good news is we came away with five All-League finishers. Sadie Gimber and Nicole Davies placed fourth and fifth, followed by Meg Sweeney, Ashley Engelman, and Maddy Danielson in eighth, ninth and 10th.  Also finishing for the Islanders were Elise Umansky (11th), Mollie Privett (12th), Martha Byrne (13th), Taylor Ramos, Samantha Marks, Vanessa Tortolero, Sydney Bennett, Mary Grace Braun, Sierra Smith, Emma Renly, Madison McBride, Lindsay Garner, Sarah Alfano, Adrienne Reyes, and Melissa Wood.
Going into next Saturday's CIF finals at Morley Field, the Girls are ranked No.1 and the Boys are among the top three Division IV teams. The girls' race at 9:00 am and the boys will be run at 10:05 am.”
Islander Girls Volleyball Goes 1-1 in CIF Playoffs
Last week the CHS Girls Volleyball Team concluded their season with a mark of 16-13, but more importantly hosted a home playoff game against Escondido Charter. Coronado won the First Round match convincingly by the scores of 25-12, 25-13 and 25-5.
The first game of the match was tied 4-4 when Alanna Pompa stepped to the service line and served for 15 consecutive points. Head Coach Leilani Ahmu said of the senior, “Alanna’s a great server. I think she rarely misses and when I need her to turn up the heat, she definitely can. She had six aces during that 15-point run.”
Pompa had considerable support from Ally Wilson during the scoring string, as Wilson contributed six kill shots for winners. Megan Wing won the first game with an ace as the Islanders were never really threatened.
The second game was in doubt for a little longer than Game 1, but Christina Peppard’s kill shot earned the Islanders a sideout, which led directly to nine straight service points by Mariah Stacy. The senior thoughtfully mixed in six aces in her serving run, which gave the Islanders a 21-11 lead. Maude Hoffmann closed out the second game with an ace and you are probably starting to pick up on the primary theme of the match.
Game number three started with a kill shot from freshman Ivey Schmitt and later some fine serving by Schmitt was on display, as the Islanders fought their way to a 9-2 lead. Later Pompa served for three points, but the big finisher in this one was Ryanne Giorgione who started serving at 15-5 and ran the table on Escondido Charter. Coach Ahmu was hoping to make some additional substitutions to spread the playing time around a little. “I told Ryanne to substitute a jump serve for her regular serve and she made that one too.”
Friday night the Islanders had to travel to No. 3 Bishop’s where Coronado fell 25-15, 25-10 and 25-19. “They were beasty,” said Ahmu of the Knights. “They have a crazy outside hitter. I’ve never seen a high school player hit that hard. We competed well in the final game. Even though we lost, it was fun.”
Ahmu noted the fine play of Stacy, Wilson, Schmitt and libero Cory De Marco in the Escondido game. “Cory did a good job on defense. She has gotten a lot better since the beginning of the season.” Ahmu noted that the team loses four seniors including Stacy, Pompa, Peppard and Delaney Luna.
Monday evening the volleyball program held their awards banquet. The Varsity winners, who were voted on by the players included: Team MVP – Maria Stacy; Most Improved – Delaney Luna; Coach’s Award – Ally Wilson; and ISF Award – Lauren Bower. Ivey Schmitt was named to the All-Eastern League Second Team, the only freshman honored on either the first or second teams. Wilson and Stacy earned Eastern League Honorable Mention recognition.
The Junior Varsity Awards as announced by Head Coach Adeile Ahmu included: MVP – Hali Dana; Coach’s Award – Miranda Marston; and Most Improved – Samantha Kirk.
Islanders Sign to Compete in College
Last week was the first opportunity for athletes in several sports to sign National Letters of Intent and five Islander athletes did just that. Signees included cousins Shelby Couture, who signed with UCLA to play water polo and Kaitlyn Couture who signed to play lacrosse at USC. In theory that should make for decades of interesting dinner conversation at family events.
Andrew Lister, who transferred to Coronado this year from the Northern Virginia area where he won the AAA Virginia state title in 2009, signed to play golf at Texas A&M next year. Lister will tee it up for the Islanders golf team this spring.
Lacrosse standout Kyle Runyon has signed to play his sport at Notre Dame next year. Mallory Mitchell, the team MVP for the CIF champion CHS Girls Soccer Team last year, will compete for Westmont College next season.
San Diego Chargers Sneak by Texans 29-23
As the game clock ticked down in the Chargers vs. Texans contest a week ago, my immediate reaction was “I can’t believe the San Diego won that game.” The Chargers special teams unit is now trying new and creative ways to get their punter Mike Scifres hurt, mainly through continually missing blocking assignments.
In direct contrast to the special teams’ ineptitude is the Chargers No. 1 ranked offense in the NFL which pairs nicely with the Chargers No. 1 ranked defense. But the real reason San Diego has improved their record to 4-5 and limped back into the AFC West title chase is quarterback Philip Rivers. Now in his seventh season in the NFL, Rivers has joined Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts and Tom Brady of the New England Patriots as quarterbacks who truly make their teammates better.
Rivers enjoined the Texans in battle a week ago without All-Pro tight end Antonio Gates and his four best receivers. Rivers made castoff tight end Randy McMichael and an unknown receiver named Seyi Ajirotutu look like Hall of Famers Kellen Winslow and Lance Alworth respectively. Rivers threw for 295 yards, four touchdowns and posted a 137.2 passer rating against the Texans.
With their bye week this week, the Chargers rolled the dice against the Texans, gambled and won on the injury front. They opted to keep Gates, Malcom Floyd and Legedu Naanee on the bench to earn another week of rest. The Charger’s injury list is too long to recount here, but those are the offensive highlights. Place kicker Nate Kaeding should return next week as well.
The Chargers received a tremendous boost to their playoff chances when the Oakland Raiders defeated the division-leading Kansas City Chiefs in overtime a week ago, and another plus was when the Denver Broncos annihilated Kansas City last week. With seven games remaining in the regular season, the Chiefs and Raiders who are now tied for first place in the AFC West, lead San Diego by only one game.  
As an aside, the next time you read that Quentin Jammer is one of the elite cornerbacks in the NFL, ask for a video copy of the early portion of the Chargers vs. Texans game.
The Chargers host the Denver Broncos Monday, Nov. 22nd at 5:30 pm in their next game. Hopefully the rest will aid the team and not cool Rivers’ amazing hot streak.